DualShock 4

If last month’s big PlayStation Meeting taught us anything, it’s that Sony is not messing around anymore. While the PlayStation 3 was cursed by the company’s arrogance, it genuinely feels like the organisation has learned its lessons, and that’s reflected in almost every aspect of the PlayStation 4. As such, it’s not especially surprising to learn that the manufacturer is expecting huge things from its impending system – but are its targets even attainable?

According to Taiwanese tabloid Digitimes, the PS4 will start shipping in August ahead of its Holiday 2013 release. The console will supposedly be assembled by Foxconn and Pegatron Technology, with an annual shipment of 16 million units on the cards. That’s an absolutely enormous amount of hardware, especially when you consider that the PS3 has only just reached 70 million units shipped after almost seven years on the market.

Kotaku posits that the publication’s sources may be referring to the financial year at the end of March 2014, which would make a little more sense. There’s also a good chance that the quoted figures may simply be inaccurate. However, last month a slew of reports claimed that the platform holder was planning to launch its next console at an incredibly competitive price point. Could the company be preparing a retail blitz, or is this merely a misunderstanding? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

[source digitimes.com, via kotaku.com]